peace and social justice
2001 to present
Dissent Is Democracy, a photographic exhibit, documents the Peace and Social Justice movement in the U.S. from September 2001 to the present. It captures ordinary folks raising their banners for peace and opposition to war, while demanding a more just society.
Handmade banners, posters and street scenes provide a visual expression of Democracy in Action - citizens exercising their Rights, accorded by the First Amendment of the Constitution, to Freedom of Expression and Assembly.
​
The exhibit depicts young and old assembled in our Nation’s Capitol and across the country, voicing public opposition to Wars exported abroad - Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. funded support for governments waging war on their own people - to War at home: economic and social disenfranchisement of the poor, people of color, immigrants, women, and children, fueling a climate of frustration, despair and violence.
​
Images range from marching veterans, clergy and peace demonstrators; mock coffin processions and a cemetery constructed on the sand; to public art installations of Lady Liberty; Everyman theater enactments of the struggle for Human Rights, and cultural workers lifting and inspiring with their songs and rhythms. Building a New Civil Rights Movement, March for Our Lives against Gun Violence, Women’s March and March for Black Women; Poor Peoples Campaign - Citizens demanding a shift in national priorities, to address gross disparities between the top 1% and the 99% of Americans struggling for a living wage; affordable housing, education and health care; social and legal justice, children’s welfare and environmental safety.
The exhibit was shown as a collective for the first time at the Glass Outhouse Gallery, Twenty Nine Palms, California, in April. 2019. Events are presented chronologically, with some exceptions, accompanied by descriptive text, quotes and reflections.
Acknowledgement and gratitude to the contributors who shared their stories, commitment and creativity, and allowed me to photograph their banners. It is hoped that the Exhibit captures the spirit of Dissent in our Democracy, and gives encouragement to the next generation who are taking up their banners and speaking out for their future, the future of their children, the planet and for the life of all beings.
